DR looking into a spacesport solution for national security

CristoRey

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Apr 1, 2014
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The DR, being near the equator,
has great benefits for launching into space. What would be wrong with companies building and using a Space Port in the DR?
To me, very little unless it was in my back yard. They tend to make some noise...
Spoken like a typical gringo living in a developing country. Reminds of people's attitudes when the schools were closed during Covid and the children living in homes without electicity and internet were provided with laptops for remote learning.
SMH...
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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Spoken like a typical gringo living in a developing country. Reminds of people's attitudes when the schools were closed during Covid and the children living in homes without electicity and internet were provided with laptops for remote learning.
SMH...
Of course. Who would want rockets blasting off in their backyard? They are louder than a colmado's speakers.
As if launch pads have anything to do with COVID from Wuhan Labs or laptops. Let's conflate driving accidents while we are at it.
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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The Canaveral name goes back to the 1500s and is the name of the spit of land first 'discovered' by Spanish explorers but could have been the French.
The buildings and pads are still called Kennedy Space Center.
It's the land that is Cape Canaveral, which never changed.
Yeah, but they renamed the land Cape Kennedy and changed it back to Cape Canaveral, so you would be wrong on that.

Sure, but let’s get our facts straight: they didn’t change the name of the space center, they changed the name of the cape — i.e., the land under the space center (or under part of it, anyway).
 
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CristoRey

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Of course. Who would want rockets blasting off in their backyard? They are louder than a colmado's speakers.
As if launch pads have anything to do with COVID from Wuhan Labs or laptops. Let's conflate driving accidents while we are at it.
Let's do.
 

Ecoman1949

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Oct 17, 2015
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This is a DR feel good political initiative and how it looks is important from a political perspective. A ego boost the DR needs right now. The reality is the biggest threat to DR national security is what’s happening across the DR border in Haiti.

Will we ever see a spaceport in the DR? It’s highly unlikely unless private industry is willing to invest big money in it and they are currently looking elsewhere. Various locations in Atlantic Canada and other places.

The ESA space port in French Guiana currently serves clients who need a launch site close to the equator for orbital and sub orbital trajectories. There is no scientific or economic advantage to building another one at or near the equator at this point.

if there is a dollar to be made building AI resorts on distant planets, I’m sure the DR would be willing to share their expertise with NASA and the ESA. If you build it, they will come.
 
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Ecoman1949

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It might happen right after the DR builds that nuclear plant they're talking about.
Not as far fetched as some might think. Your right. Full scale nuclear plants require years of planning and billions of dollars to build and operate. Not going to happen in the DR. A safe, small scale, portable nuclear generating plant capable of powering 100,000 homes is more of a reality for the DR. Brought in on tractor trailers and set up on site. The DR population is expected to increase by one million more by 2050 and the grid is not capable of supplying dependable power to its current population of 11,500,000 citizens.

Obviously a country like the DR with limited expertise and a poor track record of infrastructure maintenance and safety would have to adhere to strict monitoring, enforcement, operating, and disposal requirements by the manufacturers and operators. Agencies like the International Atomic Energy Agency and Atomic Energy Agency Canada (for Canadian manufactured plants) would have full authority over the operation of the plants.

Same rules and regulations would apply to the construction and operation of a space port in the DR. The DR would be a host country. It could happen but highly unlikely.